


Into the Alleyway

by AdotHann



Series: aus i will likely never finish [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alex is very out of character, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Other World, Fantasy, Give me a break, Hedge Witches, Human! Alex, Magic, Seelie Court, Seelie! Laf, Trooping faeries, Useelie court, Useelie! Maria, Warlocks, enchanters, faerie - Freeform, hes a disenchanted office monkey who's just stumbled upon the adventure of a life time, i dont even know if im going to continue this, i needed the contrast and the lack of passion, many classifications of magic, not me, or stardust or something, so i can reignite the passion later or some thing, sorcerors, the faerie courts, who knows whats up with john, writing in the style of the night circus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 03:59:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10549712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdotHann/pseuds/AdotHann
Summary: Only moments ago - or was it hours now? He couldn't be sure, time passed oddly here - he'd been standing on a drab side street near his work place, in central London. The pale grey sky strung low above the city with the threat of rain.Now though, the sky above him was dark as night. The crowded stalls around him were illuminated by flocks of floating lanterns, or ethereal balls of pure light. If Alex had been thinking, he'd've realised how impossible the situation was; surely you couldn't purchase something in exchange for the colour of your eyes; surely that wasn't a real dragon; surely a market this size could not have existed, unmapped and unnoticed, in the heart of London.-(a.k.a. the fantasy au that none of you really wanted but you're getting anyway. enjoy)





	

_The alleyway spirals away from the sunlit side-street. It's not really an alleyway per-say; it looks like an alleyway, but it feels like a gateway, a memory._

_Standing at the brim of its shadowy entrance, you can't quite see where it ends; somewhere beyond the gloom, deep inside the cavernous brick and mortar chest of the city._

_Deep in the shadows you see a vividly blue light flicker, and you can't quite hold off the temptation any longer._

_You step inside._

 

* * *

 

The market didn't start immediately. The further into the rabbit warren of alleys and tunnels he travelled, the more stalls seemed to spring up from the darkness around him. It didn't take too long to reach the heart of the place.

The market really was a place of wonder, like a fantasy story come to life. Stalls selling secrets and glass flowers, at the price of the freckles on your face or your earliest memory. Shop holders ranged from people who appeared as human as Alex, to trolls and horned fairies and dancing bears.A young man with a loom advertised starlit cloaks, spun from the night sky itself. Alex spent a great deal of time watching clouds billow through the very fabric, until the stall holder had ushered him away good-naturedly,  claiming that he "had an appointment to keep."  
It was rather like someone had ushered the cast of Neil Gaiman's imagination into a maze of crowded alleys, and instructed them to set up shop.

Alexander wasn't sure how exactly he had gotten there. Perhaps he'd mistaken a wardrobe or a rabbit hole for an alleyway, and walked a little too far down it.   
Only moments ago - or was it hours now? He couldn't be sure, time passed oddly here  - he'd been standing on a drab side street near his work place, in central London. The pale grey sky strung low above the city with the threat of rain.

Now though, the sky above him was dark as night. The crowded stalls around him were illuminated by flocks of floating lanterns, or ethereal balls of pure light. If Alex had been thinking, he'd've realised how impossible the situation was; surely you couldn't purchase something in exchange for the colour of your eyes; surely that wasn't a real dragon; surely a market this size could not have existed, unmapped and unnoticed, in the heart of London.

But his attention was turned to a lady in a pretty red dress, selling charms at the most bizarre prices he could imagine.

"And how much for this one?" He said, eyes wide with wonder. The lady considered the pendant - on closer inspection it seemed to be a minutiae pocket watch, perfect in ever detail.

"This one isn't for you." She said at length. Instead she took a simple loop of twine from around her neck  and handed it to him. He ran the thread through his fingers, passing the ridges of three knots in its length.

"Don't look so disappointed, Alexander." The woman said, "You'll be grateful for this in times of peril."

There was a witty comment on the tip of his tongue, but something held him back.

"What does it do?" He asked, still thoughtlessly winding the string around his hands. 

"When undone, the first knot will bring a breeze to your sails." The woman replied. "Enough to speed you on your journey."

 My sails?"

"The second knot will bring a gale." She said, "Enough to help you escape those who would wish you harm."

"And the third?" Alex asked, raising the third and final knot to the light. 

"I strongly advise you not to undo that knot, Mr Hamilton." The woman replied, "It'll do more harm than you know. You'd best be on your way now."

As Alex meandered away from the stall, he slipped the necklace over his head. It wasn't until later that he realised he'd never given the woman his name, nor had he asked what the necklace would cost him.

He wandered deeper into the market with no real concern for where he was going, or how he'd find his way back again. Somehow he wasn't quite sure he wanted to go back at all. 

He passed street performers who breathed fire in every colour imaginable, a fortune teller decked in fantastic jewellery, and a booth selling live tarantulas that appear to be made entirely of glass.

He stumbled into something like a courtyard, with the largest open space he'd seen since falling down that rabbit hole. Alex's attention was quickly  drawn away from the fantastic stalls and fanciful fountains in the centre.

"Lee do you yield!" Cried a voice like music. 

Atop one of the courtyard a duel appeared to be taking place. 

"Never to you, Lafayette." Snarled his opponent, drawing his blood-red cape closer around him.

The first speaker - an unearthly beautiful man, dressed in lavish green and gold silk, with his long swathes of tightly coiled hair pinned back - grinned as if this was the answer he had been hoping for. With his rapier poised for attack, he lunged towards his opponent.

As Alex watched him twist and twirl up in the wall, fighting with bigot and balancing with the impossible grace of a dancer, he realised that perhaps his beauty was not the only unearthly thing about him.  

Around them, a crowd is spectators seemed to have amassed. Half are dressed in green and brown and blue, they shift together and murmur like wind through trees. Alex had been in the city for long enough that he could barely remember what a forest looked like, but some deep and buried instinct told him that this is what a forest should feel like. 

The other half of the crowd are decked in black and white and blood red. They seem to pulse and fold together, ever so gently, as their bodies and eyes follow their champion as he dances along the wall. Alex is vaguely reminded of the time he spent studying tonne a doctor, and the motions of muscle tissues working together.

But the most fascinating thing is the energy in the air - a spark, electricity he hasn't felt in a long time. It felt like revolution.  

Curiosity captured, Alex approached one of the spectators; a man, not much taller than him, dressed in green but standing slightly apart from the crowd as if he didn't really fit in either group. 

"What's happening here?" Alex asked in a hushed tone. This didn't seem like the time for loud chatter. 

The man turned to face him, his face all big bright eyes and freckles. He looked over Alex for a moment, then he smiled with a smile that could outshine the sun. 

"You aren't from around here, are you?" He asked, and for a moment Alex could've sworn there was a shimmer of liquid gold behind his eyes.

Alex shook his head, realising this was an opportunity to learn about this place. 

"This isn't really the place to talk about these things," Freckles said, scanning the red crowd with some concern. Suddenly his expression shifted, and he whirled around to face the way Alex had come in. Alex followed his gaze.

Through the archway strolled a troop of eight figures. They seemed to be of the same height and stature, and wore the same red robes like a uniform or a badge of honour. Alex could practically see the tension building around them.

The leader of the troop pulled his hood back, revealing a head of sandy hair and elf like features. 

"Laurens." The man said sweetly. 

"Seabury." Freckles - Laurens - acknowledged. Outwardly it seemed like a perfectly pleasant  exchange, but even as they spoke Alex watched Laurens and the hooded men tense into various fighting stances. 

There was a brief moment of peace - the fight atop the wall paused, the spectators stilled their movements and somewhere in the distance Alex could hear a brief snatch of bird song - then all hell broke loose. 

Laurens launched himself towards the red coats, pulling a an ornate rapier from thin air. For a second Alex wondered how the hell this guy thought he was going to take on eight men alone (even though he had probably tried to do the same in the past,) then the fight really began. 

Laurens was like a whirlwind of movement and light, twirling from for to foe, and seemingly holding his own without ever really harming any of them. It was like watching a choreographed fight, or a dance sequence.

The figure from the wall - Lafayette, his opponent had called him, - leapt down to join the frenzy. He landed lightly on paling stones, already poised and in fighting stance. 

He and Laurens fought together like they'd been doing it for years. His inhuman grace and balance out shone even Laurens', and his movements were equally fluid. The pair cut their opponents up like water, shaping a landscape, knocking out opponents one by one.

Two against eight, and they were clearly winning. But there's only so many places that two people can spread their focus at any one time, and neither of them (to the best of Alex's knowledge,) had eyes in the back of their heads.

Lafayette's opponent, the man from the wall - Lee, Alex's memory supplied, - jumped down from the wall, landing with as much grace and twice as much fury as Lafayette. Alex watched him draw a dagger from within the sleeves of his robes. 

Lee's eyes were fixed on Lafayette, and Alex felt a sudden dread coiling in his stomach. 

As Lafayette turned his back to to them, Lee lunged and Alex moved without thinking. Suddenly he was standing to the side of Lee, who had just toppled to the floor after tripping over Alex's leg.

Alex: 1. Elf-like sense of balance: 0 

Lafayette, after knocking the last of his opponents out cold, shot Alex a nod of approval. 

There were now nine men on the ground, one of whom seemed to be mumbling in some other worldly tongue. Laurens nudged him gently with bare feet. 

"We should get going," Laurens said, "I think he's summoning more of them."

"This is our cue to leave, petit lion," Lafayette said, clasping Alex's arm and pulling him toward the darkness of another twisted alley way. 

 

* * *

 

The tavern was as dimly lit as the rest of this place, and seemed to be inhabited by the same odd darkness that was neither night nor natural shadow. Alex was almost starting to see the darkness as a living creature, curling and twisting and shifting at the corners of the room. The tavern's patrons were just as bizarre as its lighting; by the bar sat pretty ladies in silk dresses with snake tails instead of legs, fauns and satyrs clamoured for more ale, a group of dryads and nymphs were engaged in a heated game of darts, and two tables over was something Alex could only have described as an Ogre.

"So you're telling me that you guys are fairies?" Alex asked feigning scepticism. He left the glass in front of him untouched, and watched as a drop of perspiration slipped down it's side.

"Fair folk." Laf corrected, "High Fae of the Seelie Court."

The chatter in the tavern quieted at his words, and Laurens shifted uncomfortably. With all eyes on their table, Alex felt a sudden urge to grasp the twine around his neck.

"Both of us." Lafayette added, staring Laurens down. Either he was oblivious to the sudden attention he'd drawn to them, or he simply didn't care. Alex was betting on the second one - Lafayette seemed like a smart man, and he'd said the tavern was a safe place.

"The Seelie Court, which is currently feuding the Useelie Court, ie the red coats, because they don't have enough power."

"They're always feuding," Laurens muttered, "The Useelie Court has overstepped their boundaries, taken that which is not theirs to take, and pushed Faerie out of balance."

"We intend to fix that balance." Lafayette said.

Alex looked around the bar, and realised that everyone here seemed to be dressed in the natural colours of the Seelie Court."So its like a revolution." He said at length, and Laurens grinned.

"Exactly," He replied, "Raise a glass."

Alex looked at his drink with concern, distantly remembering his mothers warnings of the dangers of faerie foods. Laurens caught his gaze and laughed.

"When Lafayette said this was a safe place, he meant it." Laurens explained, and gestured to the bar, "Martha owns the bar and she's about as human as they come."

Alex considered the lady tending the bar - a stalely looking woman in a mauve satin dress, who appeared to be levitating a pitcher of wine toward the table of clamouring satyrs.

"Right." Alex said, a little bewildered. Then he refocused his attention. "So about this revolution - where do I sign up?"

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Alexander "I wish there was a war" Hamilton, amiright?
> 
> Honestly this was just an excuse for my to describe pretty faerie markets and put to use some of my knowledge of folk and faerie law (finally,,, something I can use it for,,, after all these years,,,)
> 
> So what did y'all think? I'm not sure how invested I am in this au and I think it works quite nicely as a one shot so I could just leave it like this but if y'all want more and I have free time then I might keep it going.
> 
> So anyway, thoughts? Comments?


End file.
